Apprenticeships

Lord Adonis: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the total number of staff employed within the Skills Funding Agency on 1 May 2013; and how many of them were (1) under the age of 21, (2) apprentices under the age of 21, and (3) apprentices over the age of 21.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: The Skills Funding Agency – 01 May 2013 
			 Total Number of Staff Employed 1320 
			 Staff aged under 21 46 
			 Apprentices aged under 21 41 
			 Apprentices aged 21 over 10

Apprenticeships

Lord Adonis: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the total number of staff employed within the UK Space Agency on 1 May 2013; and how many of them were (1) under the age of 21, (2) apprentices under the age of 21, and (3) apprentices over the age of 21.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: The total number of permanent staff employed by the UK Space Agency on 1st May 2013 was 46. At that point, the Agency had no staff members under the age of 21, no apprentices under the age of 21 and no apprentices over the age of 21.

Apprenticeships

Lord Adonis: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the total number of staff employed within Acas on 1 May 2013; and how many of them were (1) under the age of 21, (2) apprentices under the age of 21, and (3) apprentices over the age of 21.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: At 1 May 2013 the total number of staff employed by Acas was 844 people (773.9 Full Time Equivalent).
	Of these, none was under the age of 21, and there were no apprentices under the age of 21, and no apprentices over the age of 21.

Armed Forces: Medals

Lord Ouseley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Astor of Hever on 22 November 2012 (WA 403), what responses have been made to any representations received subsequently about awarding the Military Cross to 2nd Lieutenant Walter Tull.

Lord Astor of Hever: I refer the noble Lord to the Written Statement I made on 18 March 2013 (Official Report, column WS33). This presents our position with regards to awarding the Military Cross to 2nd Lieutenant Walter Tull, and has been used in responding to a small number of representations received since then.

Armed Forces: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Baroness Stern: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any non-military personnel are involved in the maintenance or operation of unmanned aerial vehicles flown from Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether United Kingdom personnel are involved in the maintenance or operation of unmanned aerial vehicles flown from Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

Lord Astor of Hever: No UK civil servants or UK military personnel are involved in the maintenance or operation of unmanned aerial vehicles flown from Jalalabad.

Arms Export

Lord Dobbs: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what military equipment has been sold by United Kingdom companies to the Assad regime in Syria during the last ten years.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: Military equipment may not be exported from the UK without a licence issued by the Export Control Organisation (ECO) in the Department for Business (BIS). The ECO only holds records of licences granted. All licence applications are rigorously assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria. A licence would not be granted if to do so would be a breach of the Criteria.
	Over the last ten years the following licences were granted for the export of military equipment for the ultimate end-use of the Syrian government. In 2003 two Standard Individual Export Licences were issued: one covered bomb suits and improvised explosive device detection equipment; the other was for ballistic test equipment and components, small arms ammunition and small calibre artillery ammunition for testing of locally produced small arms. Two Open Individual Export Licences were also issued in 2003 for laser and small arms collimators and their accessories. In 2004 and 2005, one Standard Individual Export Licence was issued in each year for armoured all wheel drive vehicles for the transportation of government officials.

Aviation: Air Quality

The Countess of Mar: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what scientific, technical and medical expertise the Civil Aviation Authority has to investigate fume events on board aircraft.

Earl Attlee: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) monitors the frequency and severity of such fume events through the Mandatory Occurrence Reporting Scheme (MORS) and through their general oversight of airline operations and employs experienced pilots and engineers who are able to assess the adequacy of air operators’ procedures for managing events of this nature. The CAA has been actively involved in research into the potential flight safety and health effects of fumes events for a number of years. The Head of the Aviation Health Unit has lead responsibility for the CAA’s ongoing participation in international activity seeking to resolve concerns about potential health effects.

Aviation: Air Quality

The Countess of Mar: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures are taken by the Civil Aviation Authority to ensure that passengers on board aircraft are made aware of fume events when they occur; what advice they give to vulnerable passengers who might have been affected; whether they measure the level of public concern about such events; and, if so, how.

Earl Attlee: There is no national or international legislation requiring passengers to be informed of fume events. Fume events rarely cause symptoms requiring medical attention and airlines have procedures for assisting sick passengers or crew. If no symptoms are experienced, no action is required. A passenger who experiences symptoms that resolve during or immediately after the flight does not need to seek medical advice. If a passenger feels unwell following a fume event, and symptoms persist after the flight, medical advice should be sought.
	There are no measures in place to establish the level of any public concern about fume events. However, members of the public with concerns should contact the Aviation Health Unit at the Civil Aviation Authority.

Children: Safeguarding Children

Lord Morris of Aberavon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will obtain the Taylor report on the response to the sexual exploitation of young people in Rochdale; and whether they will ensure that inquiries of the inspectorates of the Crown Prosecution Service and the constabulary take it into account.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The Government is aware of the report.
	As outlined in the reply to the recent question on this issue, a substantial programme of work, being planned jointly by Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, will look at child sexual abuse and exploitation.
	As part of this work, both named inspectorates will liaise across the four criminal justice inspectorates and work closely with the Ofsted inspectorate to develop terms of references and finalise methodologies. Both inspectorates have also confirmed that this programme will be developed in conjunction with social services and local authorities.
	Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary will take cognisance of all recent reports regarding child sexual exploitation when preparing their inspection criteria for forthcoming inspections in this area and this will include the Rochdale report and the recent parliamentary report by the Home Affairs Select Committee.

Criminal Records Bureau

Lord Vinson: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Henley on 21 March 2012 (HL Deb, cols 913–4), how many checks have been carried out each month by the Criminal Records Bureau or its successor since changes to the system were introduced by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012; and whether those figures are in line with their forecast that numbers would fall by 50 per cent.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The table provides information on how many checks have been carried out each month by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and its successor, the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), since changes to the system were introduced by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.
	The forecast that the volume of checks will fall in the future is based on the impact of the update service which will eliminate the need for unnecessary repeat checks. The update service was launched on 17 June.
	
		
			  Total applications received 
			 10-30 Sep 2012 335,743 
			 Oct-12 411,866 
			 Nov-12 360,976 
			 Dec-12 255,713 
			 Jan-12 306,290 
			 Feb-12 331,550 
			 Mar-12 310,214 
			 Apr-12 316,322 
			 May-12 346,073

Drones

Baroness Stern: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to provide armed surveillance drones to the Syrian opposition.

Lord Astor of Hever: There are no plans to provide armed surveillance drones to the Syrian position.

Elections: Postal and Proxy Votes

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have, or have had, any plans for discussions with the Electoral Commission regarding a change in the rules which would allow candidates or registered political parties to inspect submitted application forms for postal and proxy votes.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: The Government have not had any discussions with the Electoral Commission regarding a change to these rules, nor do we currently have plans to do so.

Embryology

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Earl Howe on 19 October 2011 (WA 72) and 11 March 2013 (WA 12) and by Lord Marland on 19 November 2012 (WA 311–12), what consideration was given to the biological distinctions between somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) and pronuclear transfer (PNT) in allowing research licence R0152 for work on SCNT to encompass PNT activities under the expired research licence R0153.

Earl Howe: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has advised that the decision to vary research licence R0152 was taken by its Research Licence Committee on 18 November 2009. The minutes of that meeting, setting out the Committee's reasoning, are available on the Authority’s website at: http://guide.hfea.gov.uk/guide/Inspection Report.aspx?code= 17&s=1&&nav=2

Energy: Solar Parks

Lord Marlesford: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether their new policy on planning applications for wind farms is to be applied to solar parks.

Baroness Hanham: We have set out clearly in the National Planning Policy Framework the importance of early and meaningful engagement with local communities and that an application for renewable energy development should only be approved if its impacts are or can be made acceptable. To help ensure planning decisions in England reflect the balance in the Framework, we will issue new planning practice guidance shortly to assist local councils, and planning inspectors in their consideration of local plans and individual planning applications. This will set out clearly that need for renewable energy does not automatically override environmental protections and the planning concerns of local communities.
	We are looking to local councils to include in their Local Plans policies which ensure that adverse impacts from renewable energy developments, including cumulative landscape and visual impact, are addressed satisfactorily. Where councils have identified areas suitable for renewable energy, they should not feel they have to give permission for speculative applications outside those areas when they judge the impact to be unacceptable.

Exporters: Foreign Language Skills

Baroness Coussins: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will consider introducing financial incentives for non-exporting businesses that train existing staff to export, in line with the recommendations of the British Chambers of Commerce report Exporting is good for Britain but knowledge gaps and language skills hold back exporters, published on 10 June .

Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint: UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), the Government Department responsible for providing UK-based companies with the support they need to succeed in the global economy, has a number of services aimed at preparing businesses for exporting. These include schemes such as Passport to Export and Gateway to Global Growth aimed at new exporters and more experienced exporting Small and Medium Sized Enterprises’ (SMEs), providing advice, guidance and support to help new to export businesses. These schemes provide an assessment of exporting capability, and include face to face training from export professionals.
	With the additional funding made available in last year’s autumn statement, UKTI will provide export voucher funding for Passport and Gateway companies which companies can choose to spend on a variety of export services. That could include language training or wider training needs, as well as other services offered by UKTI and external suppliers.
	Separately, The House of Lords Committee on SME Exports, Roads to Success: SME Exports, recommended that UKTI should promote the benefits of addressing the language issue and advise on the consequences if it
	is ignored as part of our communications strategy with SMEs. UKTI agreed with the Committee’s analysis and will publish next week an updated publication, “Improving your business communications. Overcoming language and cultural barriers in business: A guide for exporters”.

Food: Beef

Baroness Byford: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they or the Food Standards Agency require samples of beef products to continue to be subject to DNA testing; and, if so, who is paying for it.

Earl Howe: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is funding local authority sampling for meat speciation by DNA testing as part of the 2013-14 National Coordinated Feed and Food Sampling grants. This will include testing beef products.
	The FSA is also continuing to work with the food industry to ensure effective assurance controls are in place to check the authenticity of meat products. As part of those arrangements DNA testing for horse in beef products is continuing to be carried out. The costs of these tests and the wider assurance arrangements are for industry. Industry is continuing to share the results of their horse DNA testing with the FSA. The results from this testing programme are now published on the FSA website on a quarterly basis, with the latest report published on 13 June.

Gaza’s Ark

Baroness Tonge: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to provide naval protection for the vessel known as “Gaza’s Ark” when it sails from Gaza in order to take exports from that territory.

Lord Astor of Hever: No.

Gypsies and Travellers

Baroness Whitaker: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Hanham on 12 June (WA 252), whether the barriers faced by Gypsy, Roma or Traveller businesses have been assessed in the cross-government review into the barriers faced by minority ethnic businesses in accessing finance.

Baroness Hanham: The cross-government review into the barriers faced by ethnic minority businesses in accessing finance assessed a range of factors that prevent entrepreneurs from
	accessing business finance, such as a lack of formal savings and collateral shortages. Many of these factors will be just as relevant to Gypsy, Traveller and Roma communities as they are to some other ethnic minority communities.

Health: Cancer Drugs Fund

Lord Clement-Jones: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessments they have undertaken of the success of the Cancer Drugs Fund since its introduction.

Earl Howe: The Cancer Drugs Fund was launched on 1 April 2011 to help National Health Service cancer patients access the drugs their clinicians believe will help them. We also made an additional £50 million available to strategic health authorities in 2010-11. This funding has so far helped over 30,000 patients in England to access the additional cancer drugs their clinicians recommend.
	A clinical audit of the drugs provided through the Cancer Drugs Fund is being carried out by the Chemotherapy Intelligence Unit at the Oxford Registry and we expect preliminary data to be made available later this year.

Health: Cancer Drugs Fund

Lord Clement-Jones: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to maintaining the Cancer Drugs Fund after the current arrangements come to an end in 2014.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have received from NHS England about the future of the Cancer Drugs Fund.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to involve NHS England in decisions about the future of the Cancer Drugs Fund.

Earl Howe: We are exploring ways in which patients can continue to benefit from innovative cancer drugs at a cost that represents value to the National Health Service, in the context of developing new pricing arrangements for branded medicines. Input has been sought from NHS England as part of this work.
	We are committed to ensuring that arrangements are in place to protect individual patients receiving treatment through the Cancer Drugs Fund as the planned end of the Fund approaches.

Health: Education and Training

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effect reductions in funding will have on (1) Health Education England, and (2) all Local Education and Training Boards, for the financial year 2013–14.

Earl Howe: From 1 April 2013, central funding for education and training is provided by the Department to Health Education England (HEE) to fund their responsibilities for managing the delivery of education and training for the healthcare system.
	In 2013-14, HEE has been provided with a budget of £4,883 million. This represents an increase on the £4,879 million of funding provided to strategic health authorities (SHA) through the 2012-13 Multi-Professional Education and Training budget. It also represents an increase over actual spending in 2012-13 of £116 million.
	It is the responsibility of HEE to allocate this funding effectively to their Local Education and Training Boards (LETB) based on need. HEE have informed the Department that:
	Comparisons at an individual LETB level are complicated by changes in funding to reflect the introduction of tariffs for undergraduate clinical trainees' placements in National Health Services providers and some changes in the impact of funding student loans and bursaries. This is shown below for information with adjustments to mirror the previous SHA boundaries.
	It is the case that a significant portion of HEE expenditure is committed to programmes for existing trainees. In finalising their spending plans LETBs have had to make local priority decisions on the deployment of limited discretionary funds around short development courses, and ad-hoc projects. There has also been a significant reduction in planned running costs of the order of 10%.

Health: Ophthalmology

Lord Harrison: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the work of eye clinic liaison officers.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what financial support they have provided to develop the eye clinic liaison officer service.

Earl Howe: Eye care liaison officers (ECLOs) provide support to individuals who are diagnosed with an eye care condition, although their role varies according to local service needs. Many ECLOs are funded by the Royal National Institute of Blind People and its associated charities. In cases where commissioners have wholly or part-funded positions, this is a matter for the local commissioning body.

Investment: Foreign Investment

Viscount Trenchard: To ask Her Majesty’s Government (1) how many jobs they estimate have been created in the United Kingdom by Japanese companies, and (2) what has been the total amount of Japanese investment in the United Kingdom, in the last decade; and what is the current balance of trade between the United Kingdom and Japan.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government (1) how many jobs they estimate have been created in the United Kingdom by Chinese companies, and (2) what has been the total amount of Chinese investment in the United Kingdom, in the last decade; and what is the current balance of trade between the United Kingdom and China.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, Director General for ONS, to Viscount Trenchard, dated June 2013
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions asking how many jobs are estimated to have been created in the United Kingdom by both Japanese and Chinese companies; what has been the total amount of both Japanese and Chinese investment in the United Kingdom in the last decade; and what is the current balance of trade between the United Kingdom and Japan and the United Kingdom and China (HL907 & HL908)
	Below are the data on Japanese and Chinese investment in the United Kingdom in the last decade:
	
		
			 Table 1 
			 FDI International positions in the UK , 2002 to 2011 
			   £ million 
			  2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 
			 CHINA 42 102 119 111 99 202 427 618 378 765 
			 JAPAN 11791 11949 12300 10513 14766 25479 30643 246466 27638 31444 
		
	
	The current (annual) balance of trade between the United Kingdom and Japan is -£3362 million in 2012.
	The current (annual) balance of trade between the United Kingdom and China is -£19277 million in 2012.
	Unfortunately the ONS is unable to estimate how many jobs have been created in the United Kingdom by Japanese or Chinese companies. However, in Table 2, we are able to estimate the number of people employed by Chinese and Japanese companies in the UK
	
		
			 Table 2 
			 Employment of UK Enterprises owned by Chinese and Japanese companies 
			  China People's Republic Japan 
			  Employment Employment 
			 2003 820 112,860 
			 2004 392 110,227 
			 2005 372 108,246 
			 2006 382 109,878 
			 2007 776 115,387 
			 2008 1,289 113,949 
			 2009 1,343 120,715 
			 2010 1,664 114,311 
			 2011 2,436 110,408 
			 2012 2,770 122,464 
		
	
	Note
	Data extracted from the IDBR at March each year.
	Ultimate Foreign ownership data are supplied to the ONS by Dun & Bradstreet.
	A copy of the tables will be stored in the Library of the House.

Israel

Baroness Tonge: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what developments have occurred since the United Kingdom Embassy in Tel Aviv raised the issue of health dangers in Salfit from sewage from Barkan and Ariel settlements with the Office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories on 5 February.

Baroness Warsi: The agricultural district of Salfit continues to face health and environmental problems as a result of the effects of sewage from nearby Israeli settlements, most notably Barkan and Ariel settlements.
	We continue to raise our concerns about the impact of settlements on Palestinian communities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem with the Israeli authorities. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks.) (Mr Hague) raised our concerns about settlement activity with the Israeli authorities, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, during his visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories in May.

Media: Press Regulation

Lord Dykes: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the all-party draft Royal Charter on press regulation will put in place adequate protection for potential future victims of press intrusion.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: In announcing the cross-party agreement on a Royal Charter on 18 March, the Prime Minister made clear that this will help deliver a new system of independent and robust press regulation in our country that will deliver for victims and meet the principles set out in Lord Justice Leveson’s report. This system will ensure up-front apologies, million pound fines, a self-regulatory body with independence of appointments and funding, a robust standards code, an arbitration service that is free for victims, and a speedy complaint-handling mechanism. However, it would be inappropriate for the Government to put its Charter forward to the Privy Council at this time, whilst the Privy Council Office is in receipt of a formal petition by The Press Board of Finance with a draft Royal Charter for the independent self-regulation of the press.

Prisoners: Complaints

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many prisoner complaints were dealt with by the prison service in 2012.

Lord McNally: There were 233,904 complaints submitted by prisoners in England & Wales which required a response during the financial year 2011-12. The total number of complaints for 2011/12 was 4% lower than in 2009/10.
	This figure refers to complaints submitted under the established prisoner complaints procedures and does not include those made under the Confidential Access facility. It has been drawn from administrative IT systems, which as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Railways: Electrification

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have identified sufficient electric rolling stock which will be available by December 2014 when the electrification of a substantial part of the railway network will be complete.

Earl Attlee: By December 2014, assuming satisfactory conclusion of the electrification works, it will be possible for Northern Rail to operate electric services between Liverpool and Manchester via Newton-le-Willows and between Liverpool and Wigan via St Helens Central. The Department continues to work with industry partners on the plan for the delivery of rolling stock to utilise the electric infrastructure from this date.
	No other electrification projects are due for completion by December 2014.

Railways: High Speed 2

Lord Willoughby de Broke: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they calculated the proposed capacity of HS2 trains.

Earl Attlee: Existing high speed trains around the world seat around 500 passengers per 200 metre train – HS2 Ltd used this as a reference when calculating the proposed capacity of HS2 trains.

Railways: High Speed 2

Lord Willoughby de Broke: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the subsidy required for HS2, assuming an operating capacity of (1) 90 per cent, (2) 70 per cent, and (3) 50 per cent.

Earl Attlee: The profitability of HS2 will depend upon the ownership, operating and regulatory structures in place, as well as ridership.
	Early modelling published in 2012 for the Economic Case suggests that, even when the impacts on the existing network are accounted for, HS2 services would be operationally profitable over the appraisal period.

Railways: High Speed 2

Lord Willoughby de Broke: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the average cost per metre of tunnelling required for HS2; and what is the range of that cost according to terrain and depth.

Earl Attlee: The initial stage estimate for tunnels has been based on the best available data for benchmarking costs which continues to be the data provided by the British Tunnelling Society through the Infrastructure UK cost study work. Rates for each tunnel proposed are being considered on an individual basis using the available data.
	The rates have a fixed set of costs which are needed for each tunnel and a variable set that reflects the length of the tunnel therefore, at this stage, it is not possible to give an average cost per metre for HS2.

Railways: Land and Property Value

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Attlee on 11 June (WA 230), whether they propose to undertake a fresh evaluation of the change in land and property values following the opening of the Jubilee Line extension, to complement the assessment of the potential benefits of Crossrail.

Earl Attlee: We have no such plans. The “Crossrail Property Impact Study”, carried out by GVA and published in October 2012, was commissioned by Crossrail Ltd.

Railways: Rolling Stock

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the criteria for assessing the economic cases for the East Coast Main Line franchise will include a bidder’s proposal to use rolling stock other than the anticipated Intercity Express train.

Earl Attlee: The InterCity Express Programme contract includes an option to extend the order to replace the electric Intercity 225 stock. A decision on this is expected to be made in the summer which will inform the rolling stock specification and will be reflected in the Invitation to Tender.

Roads: Funding

Lord Storey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much of the funding allocated to the Highways Agency and local authorities for maintenance of the motorway and trunk road network and highways has been subsequently awarded to the City of Liverpool in each of the last five years; and to what purpose.

Earl Attlee: Funding allocated to the Highways Agency for maintenance of the motorway and trunk road network is not allocated to the City of Liverpool or any other local highway authority.
	A breakdown of the capital funding grant allocated to the City of Liverpool for highways maintenance, including top-up funding, over the last five years is as follows:
	
		
			 Financial Year Amount £million 
			 2009-10 Highways Maintenance Capital Block Grant Funding (see note 1). 3.378 
			 2010-11 Highways Maintenance Capital Block Grant Funding (see note 1) 3.885 
			 May 2010 – Additional Funding provided for pothole damage 0.381 
			 March 2011 – Additional Funding provided for pothole damage 1.058 
			 2011-12 Highways Maintenance Capital Block Grant Funding (see note 1) 3.825 
			 2012-13 Highways Maintenance Capital Block Grant Funding (see note 1) 3.571 
			 2013-14 Highways Maintenance Capital Block Grant Funding 3.271 
			 2013-14 Additional Highways Maintenance Funding announced in December 2012 0.596 
		
	
	Note:
	1) These are indicative funding allocations and final allocations to the City of Liverpool were subject to distribution arrangements undertaken by the Merseyside Joint Authority/Integrated Transport Authority.
	Local authorities are also able to use revenue funding allocated by the Department for Communities and Local Government through the Revenue Support Grant for maintaining their local highways.
	Neither capital nor revenue highways maintenance funding is ring-fenced and it is for local highway authorities to decide upon their spending priorities across the whole range of services they provide.

Sexual Offences: Investigation and Prosecution

Lord Morris of Aberavon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Taylor of Holbeach on 21 May (HL Deb, cols 740–2), what co-ordination there will be between the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, the constabulary, the social services agencies and local authorities.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: A substantial programme of work, being planned jointly by Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, will look at child sexual abuse and exploitation. The intention is to specifically address how agencies interact to protect children and ensure that offenders are brought to justice. As part of this work, both named inspectorates will liaise across the four criminal justice inspectorates and work closely with the OfSted inspectorate to develop terms of references and finalise methodologies. Both inspectorates have also confirmed that this programme will be developed in conjunction with social services and local authorities. In addition, work continues on the development of multi-agency child protection inspections, as part of the Government’s commitment to deliver the actions from the Munro review of child protection.

Sport: Boxing

Lord Pendry: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much funding was allocated through Sport England to school and grassroots boxing in the last year for which records are available.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: Between March 2012 and March 2013, funding was allocated as follows:
	17 boxing projects received a total of £813,969 National Lottery funding through Sport England’s Inspired Facilities fund, to upgrade and modernise facilities.28 boxing projects received a total of £235,027 National Lottery funding through Sport England’s Small Grants fund, for sports equipment and coaching.The Amateur Boxing Association of England received £16,859 Exchequer funding through Sport England’s SportsMatch programme for a mobile boxing arena.The Amateur Boxing Association of England received £623,810 National Lottery funding and £614,265 Exchequer funding through Whole Sport Plan investment, over 2012-13.
	Furthermore, £4.8 million Whole Sport Plan investment from Sport England has been ring-fenced for the grassroots sport of boxing, between 2013-17. An award agreement will be signed with the Amateur Boxing Association of England, once they have provided confidence that they are able to reach the required governance standards by October 2014. If they are not able to do so, Sport England will be seeking alternative investment routes in to the sport.